DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN AGRICULTURE 19 fortunately A Rudra, A Majid and B D Talib have carried out a systematic sample study of big farmers in the Punjab in the same year. 58 This condition could not be fulfilled in Gujarat, as the selected district, Surat had floods at the time. Accordingly Kaira was substituted for Surat. 64 This proviso was a flexible one in that the size-condition was raised or lowered depending on whether the area concerned was in a rain-fed or delta tract. 65 A Rudra, "In search of the Capitalist Farmer" (in the Punjab), Economic And Political Weekly Vol V, No 26 (Review of Agriculture) appears to have been in search of the capitalist as a pure type, of which even in the Punjab there would be few so far. The fact that it isjUfilcult to define a group of 'pure* Capitalists by, jsta-tisUcaL means however, does not disprove that Punjab is experiencing a process of capitalist development. To paraphrase Joan Robinson, it is easier to 'define9 an abstract concept, such as a point in mathematics, than a concrete phenomenon like an elephant. Yet we have no difficulty in believing the latter to exist when we see it. 66 See R Dasgupta, Problem of Economic Transition. 57 T Scarlett Epstein, in Economic Development and Social Change in South India, noted that irrigation in a Mandya village had strengthened the economic basis for the social dominance of the traditionally rich landholders. 58 Unless otherwise stated "returns^ refer to the cash receipts from sales less all current cash outlays, expressed as a percentage of the latter. Depreciation is not included in this concept of cost, which is meant to avoid all problems of imputation of value to farm-produced inputs or farm-consumed output. 69 These crops require much higher cash outlays on wages than even irrigated staples. Turmeric, for example, costs Rs 700 or more in labour costs per acre to grow compared to around Rs 150-160 for paddy, and around Rs 600 for sugar-cane. 60 The importance of distinguishing capitalist operation from extensive operation of large holdings were pointed out by K Kautsky. See his La Question Agraire, p 221 : ^Une petite propriete cultivee d'une mamere intensive peut constituer une exploitation plus grade qu'une propriete plus entendue cultive d^une maniere extensive." This point was also stressed by V I Lenin, ^New Data on the Laws Governing Capitalist Develop- j ment". Collected WorKs, V6T 22, while analysing capitalist development of agriculture in j the USA; he showed that the smaller intensive eastern region farms were more/ capitalist than the large extensive grain farm of the western US. 61 PK Bardhan, in "Green Revolution and Agricultural Labourers", Economic And Political Weekly, Special No 1970, has put together the available data, which show that real wages injhe.PunjabJiave not risen, and may have slightly declined, over 1960-68. THere has been a fall in most of the districts under IADP, substantial increase^being ^ ^ observed only for the two Kerala districts. 62 See M H Buildings and A Singh, Mechanisation and Rural Employment for a systematic study of the extent of possible labour-displacement through mechanisation in Punjab. 68 Some quantitative results of the empirical work discussed in the papaer have been presented by the author in "Economics of Farm Size and Farm Scale", Economic and Political Weekly, Special No July, 1972.